Oh, Tamara!

By Dharisha Bastians -

Dharisha Bastians

There is a reason that diplomatic missions in Colombo, especially representing countries of the West that are constantly being denigrated by the Government of Sri Lanka or its proxies, refrain from reacting publicly to every charge levelled against them and every negative sentiment expressed. One senior diplomat put it succinctly – “Do we really want to be front page news in Colombo every morning?”

Diplomacy, almost by definition, is something that must be conducted with some degree of discretion. It is a tool used to prevent conflict and build trust, confidence and relationships between States and International bodies. Diplomats must always attempt to further a State’s national interest and the national interest, is not always served in the public domain. This is why Wikileaks, while being the hero of journalists and freedom of information activists, is officially the diplomat’s worst nightmare. Diplomatic engagement is most successful when it is conducted quietly and with neither bragging in success nor finger-pointing nor wound-licking in defeat. Sri Lanka has known such diplomacy – but its successes are rarely touted and the sequence of events often not publicly known at all. Former Foreign Secretary and career diplomat H.M.G.S. Palihakkara was at the helm of one such success at one of the most critical junctures of Sri Lanka’s military offensive against the LTTE in May 2009. Palihakkara who was serving as Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, put up the fight of his life to keep Sri Lanka out of the agenda of the UN Security Council in 2009, an eventuality that would have proved far more damaging for Sri Lanka than the UNHRC resolution recently adopted in Geneva. Yet, Palihakkara having never spoken of it, the triumph is only known and acknowledged by those with a particular interest in such affairs. Compare that against the constant crowing that has been underway since Sri Lanka successfully quashed a resolution attempted at the UNHRC in 2009. Compare that also, against the public relations disaster that has been the Geneva and the Sri Lankan delegation since the UNHRC’s 19th Session in March this year.

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